Liam & Gillian are back in school. Here is a picture of them before they caught their bus. Liam goes to 1st grade while Gillian heads off to 3rd. Liam has the same 1st grade teacher that Gilly had, named Mrs. Bohan. (Good Irish name!)
Tristan got to stay home with Mommy and get lots of attention, which he loves. However we think he misses his siblings.
School is about to start, but we had a few days at the lake before the routine starts up. Pap-pap took the kids to the beach with me, and they had some of the biggest waves of the year to contend with. Here we see Tristan getting swamped.
Later that evening after dinner, we went up the fields and flew a kite, while Liam tried out his new birthday gift, a golf driver. He's got a pretty solid swing!
Grandma had the bright idea for ice cream, but once we got there the sky turned out to show one of the nicest sunsets of the summer, so we jumped back in our cars and raced back to the coast to see the show. Our attempt at a family portrait in the high winds was a bit shaky, but we tried. Tomorrow it is back to school. :-(
After about 5 weeks of stones, gravel and rocks everywhere, last week VBP had some big storms that took it all away and left us with some nice beach sand for the "crumb crushers" to play in. Here you can see them lounging around and playing in the sand. There are still rocks, but nothing like it was before.
Then the Good Year Blimp (en route to a Buffalo Bills Thursday night game?) passed overhead and the kids kept pointing up in the air. Tristan of course asked a million questions about Blimpology.
It was a nice beach day to be had, but school starts up for everyone next week, so we're happy to squeeze what little remains of our summer vacation.
Tristan does his best impression of "The Thinker", or perhaps he just ate a bug?
Our latest addition to the family. A piano from Sam's clan, which has been passed down 4-5 generations from the New Castle area. Sam's brothers, who own a moving company & I were able to lug it to it's new home in our basement. It's in fair shape, and could really use a good tuning, but Gillian (3 yrs of practice) & Liam (2 yrs of practice) now have a proper piano to learn their lessons on.
It was supposed to be an outdoor water party. Squirt guns, water balloons, a hose attached slippin' (water) slide, etc. Then it decided to be cold & rainy despite all of Samantha's planning and effort. So we had to move Liam's 7th indoors.We have a tradition of having our kids make their own cake every year from scratch & self decorate it which they really love to do. This year was no different.
All of the cousins were invited over to be with Liam for his special event. Technically we're celebrating it a week early. Sam did a good job running the kid-games & keeping them enthused and active. Eventually it was time to have cake.
Liam's gifts were awesome & he did a job sharing so that they were enjoyed by everybody. He got lots of Pirates of the Caribbean type stuff, Transformers, X-men, a cool Pirate trivia game and the latest addiction of the summer, a Webkin. Overall despite the soft weather, Liam had a fun party and we'd like to thank everybody who came and could share the day with us.
Every summer, Phil, Vee & Gram McEntee (Ann) come up for a week in August. They rent the Snyder's cottage down on the corner from Tara cottage. Here we see Uncle Phil who is under Doctor's orders to stay out of the sun for a while, due to a bout of Squamis.
Meanwhile on the beach, Pap Pap flips his grand kids with reckless abandon into the ponding waves. Here we see Gilly-bean being flung into doing a summer-salt into the waves. Liam wasn't spared either.
When he's not torturing the kids, Pap Pap plays ball and stays busy keeping Tristy from drinking the lake water.
Then we all gathered together to watch the sun set then ended the day with ice cream.
Each summer at the lake, the residents do "Halloween" at Van Buren Point. The kids dress up in costumes and rally at the community center before parading around to various participating cottages (orange pumpkin stickers in the windows) and get treats. I guess since no one is here in October, it was decided a while back to do it now.
Anyway, Liam was Jack Sparrow, Gillybean was an Angel, and Tristy went as Spiderman. All three came back with sacks of candy more than their own body weight. The rain held off for the most part.
Needless to say with all that candy before bed, our evening routine was a chore. Tristan passed out on the steps after pitching a "sugar fit".
Yesterday the waves were quite big, and the sun blasted us with some hot temps across the north east, so off to the cool lake we went. The kids have to wear their life vests since the under-tow is a bit strong at times. Here are some shots of the kids battling the waves.
Tristan is still too little to swim on his own, but he likes it when I throw him into the chop. Of course he learns to keep his mouth closed when the waves hit his face, which buys the beach a few minutes of peace & quiet. ;-)
Liam likes to pretend he's a super hero fighting crime as he bashes his way through the oncoming surf. This of course burns lots of energy which tires him out for bedtime. Usually he works up a hearty appetite for dinner too.
Tristan usually has to go to the bathroom just minutes after we arrive, despite us asking him to go before heading down to the beach. You can almost set your watch to this daily event. Yesterday when he informed us of his need to "use the potty" I looked around and seeing that there was no one near us I told him to just go pee in the lake. He obliged.
One day last week, Pappap & I took the boys down to Lake Cassadaga, right outside Lillydale. We packed up some worms, a few rods & bobbers. We tried our luck in front of the old Lazzaroni's restaurant.
We fished by an old dock, and Liam caught the only fish all day. It was a little Sunfish seen here. For whatever reason we didn't seem to have any luck the rest of the day. The boys had fun though, and we lost a few hooks on some snags.
We stopped at Burger King afterwards to drown our sorrows & celebrate Liam's 1st fish catch.
Every year Gram Farrell & her daughters (Maggie, Joey, Mary Ann & Annie) rent the cottage across the street from us. (Halls) They stay for a week and have fun on the beach. An occasional trip to the Indian's casino is also usually in order. This year we had good weather, but the seaweed and rocks were kinda bad. Gram Farrell's health improved enough that she was able to make the journey.
Aunt Pat, who is fighting cancer came up for her birthday with her family. Cousin Finnegan had his suit on at the beach. Later before leaving, the clan had a chance to get a group picture together.
The Rapps came to stay with us last week. They are old friends and our children had a blast playing with Kieran & Jack. They rented the Warner's cottage next door, and we can't wait for them to come back next year. Click on the pictures to enlarge. 
We went to the County Fair, and the kids had a ball riding the rides. Here, Kieran and Gilly pose.
My Dad suggested we start some sort of blog for things that happen at the lake, so I obliged. This blog will also help serve as a means to keep my family up to date with "Farrell family happenings", both here at the lake and at home. So expect to see lots of pics of the kiddies, and family events, etc.